Monday, April 30, 2007

Judges file bar complaint against Beach prosecutor

A lawyer might understand a distinction between “illegal conduct” by a judge and a lack of statutory authority for judicial action, but everybody at a Republican breakfast in Virginia Beach on Feb. 3 probably wasn’t a lawyer.

Or maybe it’s a distinction without a difference to Virginia Beach’s nine circuit judges.

The Virginian-Pilot reports that Bryant acknowledged in a news release that he mentioned to the gathering that he was keeping track of instances in which judges act without statutory authority.

But he insisted that he had not accused the judges of illegal conduct.

He said the judges have filed a complaint with the Virginia State Bar that the alleged “illegal conduct” comment violates legal ethics.

Bryant issued the press release after he learned that the newspaper intended to run a story about the controversy and said at the most recent breakfast that he has been praying for the judges since the allegations was made. “Maybe I should have started a long time ago,” he said, according to The Virginian-Pilot. He did not say in the press release what the actions without statutory authority might have been.